http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1099100_state-with-dirtiest-power-grid-has-highest-electric-car-incentive State With Dirtiest Power Grid Has Highest Electric-Car Incentive By John Voelcker Jul 13, 2015
[image http://images.thecarconnection.com/med/electric-car-wells-to-wheels-emission-equivalencies-in-mpg-sep-2014-union-of-concerned-scientists_100494668_m.jpg Electric-car wells-to-wheels emission equivalencies in MPG, Sep 2014 (Union of Concerned Scientists) ] ... Life is full of little ironies. And life in the 50 states that make up the United States of America is full of inconsistencies, including those among electric-car incentives from state to state. West Virginia, for instance, turns out to offer a remarkably high income-tax credit of up to $7,500 for citizens (who can take advantage of it) who buy a battery-electric vehicle. The irony comes because West Virginia has the filthiest power grid among all 50 states--or, more accurately, the grid with the highest carbon dioxide emissions per kilowatt-hour. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the carbon intensity of a kilowatt-hour of electricity produced in West Virginia in 2011 (the most recent data provided) was 80.8 kilograms of CO2 per million BTUs. That's the highest of any state in the nation. It's higher than the national average of 55.3 kg/million BTUs, and 63 percent higher than the 49.5 reading in California (which accounts for up to half of all plug-in electric vehicle sales in the U.S. these days). That doesn't mean that driving an electric car in West Virginia is worse than a gasoline car; even on the dirtiest grids, the carbon footprint of an electric car is equivalent to a gasoline vehicle of at least 30 miles per gallon or more. But it does mean that in West Virginia, a 50-mpg Toyota Prius may have a slightly lower carbon footprint than an electric car--which is not the case in the vast majority of states. West Virginia loses simply because its grid is so coal-heavy. As for the California comparison, it's worth noting that the Golden State's grid has gotten progressively cleaner since 2011, with an aggressive state program toward a goal of boosting use of renewable energy by 50 percent from current levels by 2030. That's one advantage of cars fueled by grid electricity, of course: As the grid gets cleaner, so does each mile driven in a plug-in car. Gasoline and diesel cars, by contrast, can't cut their carbon per mile unless they use lower-carbon fuels--which are rare at best today. The West Virginia incentives for purchase of a plug-in vehicle, according to the informative Plug-In America page that tracks all state incentives, is: Income tax credit of 35% of vehicle purchase costs or 50% of conversion cost, up to $7,500 for vehicles less than 26,000 lbs and up to $25,000 for vehicles greater than 26,000 lbs. Expires Dec 31, 2021. Infrastructure tax credits of 50% of installation cost, up to $10,000 for residential, up to $250,000 for commercial, and up to $312,500 for publicly accessible charging ... That's among the very highest state incentive programs in the nation, even exceeding Georgia's now-ended $5,000 tax credit for purchase of an all-electric car. We learned about this little irony from an article on ChargedEVs covering a new report from Carnegie Mellon University that says, essentially, that the carbon footprint of an electric car depends on the grid it's charged from. No surprise there. The article notes that under specific circumstances, nighttime charging may have a slightly higher carbon footprint because in some states, the base-load power generation has a higher proportion of coal in the mix than at any other times with higher loads. But as Charged EVs put it, the report also notes that, "Differences in state subsidies do not align well with regional difference in carbon efficiency." Indeed. Not to worry, though: Conversations with electric-car makers indicate that West Virginia is, shall we say, not high on their list of target markets--for any number of reasons. [© greencarreports.com] http://blog.ucsusa.org/average-vs-marginal-electric-emissions-802 Electric Vehicles Are Getting Marginally Better, In A Big Way Rachael Nealer July 14, 2015 For EVLN posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ http://www.moneytalksnews.com/heres-why-you-cant-buy-new-tesla-motor-city/ MI-law is Why You Can’t Buy a New Tesla in Motor City http://cleantechnica.com/2015/07/10/uk-electric-car-registrations-up-350/ UK Electric Car Registrations Up 350% http://www.brandonsun.com/lifestyles/breaking-news/ikea-to-install-free-electric-vehicle-charging-stations-at-all-12-canadian-shops-312782501.html Free SCH 60A L2 EVSE @12 Canadian Ikea shops + EVLN: Trans-Tassie via Tesla-S EV {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-State-With-Dirtiest-Grid-Has-Highest-EV-Incentive-tp4676793.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
